On the critical points of the flight return time function of perturbed closed orbits (Q1733232)

The paper considers planar analytic differential systems \(\dot x= X(x,\varepsilon)\), where \(\varepsilon\) is a small parameter, such that when \(\varepsilon=0\) the system has a period annulus. For each transversal section \(\Sigma\) to the unperturbed periodic orbits, the authors define the \textit{flight return time function} \(T^\Sigma (q,\varepsilon)\), as the first return time of an orbit starting at \(q\in\Sigma\) to cut again \(\Sigma\), after a complete turn. The authors study properties of this function \(T^\Sigma(\cdot,\varepsilon)\) in terms of properties of the period function \(T^\Sigma(q,0)\). For instance, they prove that simple critical orbits of this period function give rise to critical points of the flight return time function. They also treat the case when for \(\varepsilon=0\) the system is isochronous. They illustrate their results perturbing either the linear center or Loud (reversible) centers. Finally, they obtain explicit formulas for the derivatives of the flight return function, extending previous results proved for centers, using the Lie brackets approach. These results are applied to study some quadratic perturbations of the linear center.